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Ritual reset

Reflect on and re-evaluate your team meetings and processes to create more space for what matters.

Pencil icon
Prep Time
10 mins
Clock icon
Run Time
90 mins
Connected people icon
People
4-10
Meeples reorganizing

Ritual Reset

Reflect on and re-evaluate your team meetings and processes to create more space for what matters.

Meeples reorganizing
Pencil Icon
Prep Time
10 mins
Stopwatch icon
Run Time
90 mins
Connected People icon
People
4-10

Ritual Reset

Reflect on and re-evaluate your team meetings and processes to create more space for what matters.

Pencil icon
Prep Time
10 mins
Stopwatch icon
Run Time
90 mins
Connected people icon
People
4-10
Meeples reorganizing

Ritual Reset in action

This team used Mural to audit and visualize their team activities while meeting over Zoom.

Using the Trello Voting Power-Up, this team voted on which of their rituals to keep, improve or remove.

Using Confluence, this team documents follow ups and assigns owners at the end of the meeting.

What you'll need

Remote

Video conferencing with screen sharing

Digital collaboration tool (see templates)

In-Person

Meeting space

Whiteboard, or large sheet of paper

Markers

Sticky notes

Stickers for voting

Timer

Optional templates

Atlassian Templates
Confluence Template

Instructions for running this Play

1. Prep 10 MIN

For remote teams, start by creating a new collaboration document, like a Trello board (see templates above). For in-person teams, prepare a large sheet of paper or a whiteboard.

Create 4-5 columns or headers and label them with increasing time intervals from left to right (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, bi-weekly, quarterly, etc). Then create rows or labels that read “Full team” and “Part of team.”

Finally, create a new table or group of lists and label them “Keep,” “Improve” and “Remove.”

Prior to the meeting, appoint one person to document outcomes and action items.

TIP: ALL HANDS

Invite team members who work together often, including managers. The “reset” will be more relevant after the meeting if the full team participates in the discussion.

2. Set the stage 10 MIN

Set the ground rules for the meeting:

  • There are no “right” or “wrong” answers
  • Always assume positive intent

Restate the purpose of the Play: to examine the team’s regular working rituals and decide what to keep, improve or remove.

Next, define “ritual” and provide a few examples. Loosely, a ritual is a repeated activity in service of the team or organization. Some examples include:

  • a recurring team meeting
  • a planning process
  • a team social hour
  • a status report for the CEO

It can be strictly work, strictly social or a mix of both.

Then, ask the team to consider: What makes a successful ritual for this team? Record answers in a place participants can access throughout the Play.

TIP: INTENTION

Ask the team what they hope to get out this exercise. If it’s “reduce our time in meetings,” revisit this goal at the end of the session.

Examples
EXAMPLE: SUCCESSFUL RITUALS

See how one team defined successful rituals.

3. Audit 20 MIN

Set a timer and ask the group to silently audit all rituals.

For remote teams, ask team members to add each ritual to the space in the digital whiteboard. For in-person teams, have everyone jot down rituals on sticky notes and add them to the whiteboard or paper.

Go through and group similar rituals and identify any gaps that might exist.

TIP: YOUR CALENDAR

Prompt the team to look back at their calendars from the last few weeks or months to jog their memories.

TIP: MIND THE GAP

Help your team by offering them some categories of work rituals: sprint planning, skill-building, providing feedback, reporting and quality assurance.

4. Vote 10 MIN

Give the team some time to review the audit and vote:

  • Which rituals should we keep?
  • Which rituals should we improve?
  • Which rituals should we remove?

Allow everyone around five votes per round.

Remind the group how they defined a successful ritual up front.

TIP: MAKE A CHANGE

Teams might find that some meetings or reports to leadership are impossible to remove completely. Challenge participants to reimagine the ritual in a way that is more effective for them while still serving the ritual’s intended purpose.

5. Actions 50 MIN

Once all votes are in, discuss and document next steps for the top 3-5 rituals in each category.

Some questions to prompt actions:

  • For the top rituals we should keep, how do we ensure they continue to be effective?
  • For the top rituals we should improve, what is one thing we can try to make them better?
  • For the top rituals we should remove, who will remove them from everyone’s calendars?
TIP: MOVE IT ALONG

If the group cannot come to consensus on how best to improve a ritual, assign a team member to investigate a solution after the session and move on to the next ritual.

TIP: @ MENTION

Be clear on action owners and timing.

Try this format: WHO will do WHAT by WHEN


Follow-up

Check in

Connect with the group 3-4 weeks later. See if ritual changes made a difference. How is the team doing? Consider running this Play annually, bi-annually or as the team make-up or responsibilities change.

Variations

Prework

Shorten the meeting to 60 minutes by asking participants to audit rituals beforehand. Prior to voting and discussing, give the team one more opportunity to add any they may have missed.


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Still have questions?

Start a conversation with other Atlassian Team Playbook users, get support, or provide feedback.

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Still have questions?

Start a conversation with other Atlassian Team Playbook users, get support, or provide feedback.

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